1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a television interphone apparatus provided for communication between building entrance sand individual apartments of the building, along with transmission of visitor""s pictures to a monitor mounted on the wall of the apartment, or to a concierge counter and/or to a concierge/service center over the internet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A television interphone monitor used for entrance monitoring and communications is mounted on a wall inside the apartment and is wired via multi-core cables for connecting to each other different elements of the system, such as a microphone and speaker wires, a coax cable for video signals, a door release wire, a calling wire and an alarm wire. Whenever a more complex system is installed such as for multi-entrances and/or concierge station systems the wiring becomes very complex and costly.
Moreover, when a complex multi-entrance system is installed and operated by several visitors from different entrances all of the visitors, except a visitor that is connected to his selected apartment, must wait until the xe2x80x9cbusyxe2x80x9d communication line is cleared first, at which time the system connects the next visitor in line. This busy line state causes delays and other inconveniences, particularly whenever a concierge is engaged in lengthy communication with a tenant and/or a visitor through the video interphone system network.
Furthermore, some buildings employ several concierge stations, while in other buildings the concierge services are offered partially, such as only during daytime. This causes confusion and further delays as tenants keep on calling the concierge, rendering the communication line busy and loading the video interphone system constantly, denying emergencies and other needed concierge services.
Another type of television interphone monitoring system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,363, wherein the entrance unit comprises a matrix switching apparatus for connecting a plurality of entrance units and concierge units to multiple apartments simultaneously.
However, in the event that a concierge services are not available around the clock, or when a single concierge serving the whole building is fully occupied and busy, the need for emergency or any other services may not be timely attended, thereby rendering the services poor and inefficient.
An object of the present invention to is provide a method and apparatus for connecting a television interphone monitoring system via wired or wireless, dedicated or public telephone or other networks and/or via the internet to an E concierge station, providing the tenants and visitors alike with non limited concierge services around the clock. Another object of the present invention is to provide for a simple recall of the E concierge station via a simple key touch, and to further simplify the communication with the operators of the E concierge station by providing two way voice and picture or data communications, thereby allowing small children and the elderly that are unable to operate a PC or other internet interfacing device, a simple, fast and efficient recall of the E concierge station and request a variety of services by communicating through the handset and the monitor of the television interphone monitor and/or through the entrance panel, using the voice, picture and data communicating facilities of the television interphone monitoring system.
An apparatus for connecting a television interphone monitoring system via a public telephone line to an E concierge station according to the present invention comprises a single entrance panel or a plurality of entrance panels each comprising a microphone and a speaker, and each of which may comprise a television camera and a display monitor and each of the entrance panel processing an electrical information signal including two-way audio signals and/or one or two-way video signals and/or data signal, a single television interphone monitor or a plurality of television interphone monitors for communication with and observing the visitors, a single transmission line or a plurality of transmission lines for connecting each television interphone monitor with a central unit or directly with the single entrance panel or the plurality of entrance panels.
The central unit may include a circuit for feeding an information signal to a television interphone monitor and a circuit for receiving the information signal from the television interphone monitors through corresponding transmission lines. The central unit and the television interphone monitors may be connected through matrix switching circuits for connecting any one of the entrance panels to any one of the television interphone monitors or switching over from one entrance panel to another or from one television interphone monitor to another.
The central unit may incorporate a signal separation/injection circuit to inject video signals generated by the television camera along with audio, data, control and alarm signals for propagating combined information signals through the transmission lines to the television interphone monitor or to a concierge station or to the E concierge station via dedicated or public telephone lines or via wireless telephone or other communication network or via the internet. As the signals are mutually injected into the transmission line they become a combined information signal, propagated between the entrance panels and the television interphone monitors or between the entrance panel and a concierge station or the E concierge station. A signal separation/injection circuit can be installed in the switching circuits of the central unit to injector separate from the transmission line the information signals processed by the switching circuit, or multiple separation/injection circuits can be incorporated one per each transmission line.
The separation/injection circuit also separates the information signal propagated through the transmission line from any DC components present on the transmission line whenever the television monitor interphone is powered via the transmission line, and feeds the separated information signal to the receiving circuit of the entrance unit. The receiving circuit may comprise decoding/demodulating circuits for feeding the video, audio, data, control and alarm signals to the respective circuits.
Each television interphone monitor may further incorporate a signal combining circuit to process and combine video, audio, data, control and alarm signals generated by the television interphone monitor, and an injection circuit to inject the combined signals that form an information signal into the transmission line connecting the television interphone monitor with the central unit or the entrance unit or the concierge station or the E concierge station.
The interphone television monitor of the present invention may further comprise a television camera for generating video signals, a control circuit for generating and feeding a control signal consisting of a coded control command such as a code for controlling the entrance door lock and/or a code for controlling the elevators, or a code for controlling the lighting of corridors and the entrance. The coded control command may include alarm signals for alerting a concierge or a security attendant. The coded control command may also include a switch-on control command for connecting the television interphone monitor with any of the entrance panels or switching over from one entrance panel to another or for connecting the television interphone monitor with a concierge station or with a security room or with the E concierge station.
The coded control signals may use a binary code or digital codes consisting of high-low or narrow-wide pulses or use dual tone signals used for a digital telephone, or use a specific frequency or a pulse count, or a mixture of different pulses and frequencies for a given control command. The coded control can be AM or FM and combined into the audio frequency range and mixed with the audio and/or video signals propagated between the television interphone monitor and the entrance unit.
Similar or identical coded control signals are also generated by the central unit or the entrance panel for controlling individual functions related to each television interphone monitor, such as ringing, switching the monitor on, a fire alarm annunciation, a general alarm annunciation, switching the lighting of corridors on-off, or blocking the elevators and/or many other coded controls for operating functions of a concierge and/or alarm attendant for an apartments"" building or a block.
The video signals generated by the television camera may be converted into differential signals for propagation via low cost transmission lines such as a twisted pair and may be processed into digital video signals, or modulated onto a carrier frequency.
The video and audio signals along with the control and alarm signals generated by the entrance panel or the central unit and the television interphone monitor may also be converted into differential signals or digital signals and may be AM or FM modulated onto a carrier frequency having a frequency higher or lower than the video frequency and propagated through the transmission line connecting the television interphone monitor with the central unit and/or with the entrance unit. The video signals may be compressed signals and the audio signals along with the control and alarm signals may also be compressed and mixed into the video signals preferably during the vertical blanking period.
The entrance unit, or the central unit or the television interphone monitor unit may further comprise or be connected to an internet interface unit which converts the video, audio, data, control and alarm signals to digital signals for propagating the digital signals through wired or wireless, dedicated or public, digital or analog telephone or other communication network for connecting the video interphone system to the E concierge station. The internet interface unit may be a well known PC with modem and provided with software for video, audio and data communication via the internet or it can be a well known micro processor based interface with limited applications, specifically designed for communication with a given internet station.
In large installations of large condominiums requiring more than one internet access line, several interfaces and several wired or wireless lines can be installed, or the internet interface can be such that will connect a plurality of television interphone monitors and/or entrance panels, using wideband wired or wireless public or dedicated lines, for communicating between the E concierge station and multiple apartments and/or entrances simultaneously.
The well known PC or the micro processor based interface may also be provided with video, audio and data recording facilities, for recording all visitors along with the time and date of their visit as well as recording all events and for storing and safe keeping the recorded data for long periods. The video recorder, digital or analog and/or audio recorder can be separately connected to an entrance unit or to the central unit for recording all visitors and events, while a recorded data can be replayed onto a television interphone monitor, or onto a concierge station or onto a guard station via playback command by a tenant, a security guard, a concierge or the E concierge station.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention the video signals and the audio signals along with data, alarm and control signals can be bi-directionally propagated through a low cost transmission line extending between the central unit and the television interphone monitor, and via telephone lines or other public or dedicated communications networks between the central unit and E concierge station, while a regulated current as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,363, may be fed to the television interphone monitors through same low cost transmission line connecting the central unit and the television interphone monitors.